Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Season 4, Episode 8 Recap: The Laws of Inferno Dynamics

In the winter finale of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, our team wraps up this half of the season with a showdown between the Ghost Rider and his evil Uncle.

This entire season is officially named Agents of SHIELD: Ghost Rider. That suggests that Robbie Reyes would be a guest star of the show all season. But as those of us who picked up on the pace increase in Season 3 could guess, once again by the halfway mark of the season, the immediate storyline would be wrapped up. Eli Morrow, the quantum physics , the intra-dimensions, all of it, would be solved, much like last season’s “The Blue Planet” was, in favor of moving the second half of the season along to a new twist.

"Mack: That’s the most ridiculous idea I’ve heard all day, and it’s been a long day."

Even though it was obvious that Eli Morrow would be solved, that didn’t necessarily mean the Ghost Rider would disappear along with him. Nor did it mean there would be resolution to many of the ongoing storylines. But to AoS’s credit, the did a serious clean up by the end of the hour. Eli Morrow? Dead, check. Chinese mafia? Dead, check. Mace and his “team that trusts” nonsense put down? Check. Actual trust: Hey, lookit that! Check!

Image via ABC

A nice trick that, for Morrow’s powers to actually be drawing from the intra dimension. One small confusing plot hole–how did Morrow not know about it? After all, he spent time with Lucy. Clearly she has been *somewhere*. Did he not ask questions? Did it not occur to him that Coulson and co were sucked into the Lucyville dimension? After all, the SHIELD team figured it out by Act II last week.

"Morrow: Coulson! I thought you were dead.Coulson: I get that a lot. It never gets old."

But nevermind that, the danger has passed. Or at least Morrow’s plutonium powered bomb that could blow up cities has been sucked back into the intra-dimension, where one assumes it will be dealt with by the powers that be who live there that we never met. (One imagines them using their mental powers to transform said plutonium back into things like tables and chairs that they were using.) Ghost Rider too, apparently is now off in that dimension, at least for now. But he’s still got a car, Gabe and Daisy waiting for him back in this world. And the season bears his name. He’ll be back.

Image via ABC

Speaking of Daisy, or should we call her Agent Johnson? I suppose we shall. The season started off with her on the run, staying far away from the SHIELD team. We knew before long she’d be welcomed back, but did we expect it would be quite that grand an entrance, in front of the press vans, and with Jeffrey Mace shaking her hand? She certainly did not see that coming, even if the rest of us did the moment she shot out and up for “air.” By making her part of the team, and insisting she was just undercover the whole time also neutralized the Senator Nadeer threat–for the moment. Also, the will they or won’t they of Mack and Yoyo has also been resolved. I think we can probably thank Ghost Rider for that too.

"May: You don’t have to twist my armCoulson: I wouldn’t dare, you’d whip my ass."

There were a *lot* of nice references back to the source material along with all this wrapping up. Daisy saying she’d be the one running SHIELD “in the comic book version.” (Well, actually!) Coulson dropping a big old hint that some people are allowed to remember Nick Cage as Johnny Blaze, even if copyright infringement means his is a name to never be spoken.  And Mace finally referenced back to the movies when it came to AIDA, asking the question all of us have been wondering she she first turned up in Radcliffe’s lab.

Image via ABC

Yeah….AIDA….Bout that. I think everyone could guess that even though Mace was talking the talk about wiping her as soon as the mission was over, the chance to walk the walk would pass him on by, in hopes of the weapon she could be. Not to mention that the Darkhold book is still out there, and even though Mace didn’t look at it twice last week, he’s suddenly asking way more question in this finale, with a glint in his eye that no one should be comfortable with.

"Mace: Doesn’t anyone remember Ultron?"

But it’s not Mace, or even Radcliffe, who are at fault here. As we discover in the bumper, before the mission even started AIDA had gone rogue. Agent May thought it was just a milk run to go get our android friend, but she was already working to make more of herself–and apparently, she used may to make the second one. (Not literally. The real May is in a closet, unconscious, unaware of what happened. Meanwhile the Android May has everyone fools and is cracking that bottle with Coulson back on base.)

Next: Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD Season 4, Episode 7 Recap: Deals With Our Devils

And so, our winter break begins with questions for us all to ponder as Christmas comes and goes. How long until the real May lets someone know that’s Andriod may? How off the rails is AIDA going to go before someone shuts her down for good? Why isn’t Mace shutting her down? (Not that he’d actually succeed at this point.) Will the Darkhold be something Mace continues to show interest in? Will the Ghost Rider need to come back to shut that down again? And for gods sake, what is the power held by Nadeer’s poor Inhuman brother, and how long until Daisy leads a search party to save him from his psycho sibling? These and other questions will be what we need answers to when Agents of SHIELD returns next spring.